Greyboy's house of sound

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Andreas Stevens has been working on the construction of
his sound mosaic for a decade, writes Khalil Hegarty.

A funny thing happens to old houses in Southern California: they
get torn down. Unlike Melbourne, where the public vigorously
protects anything with a historical connection, California has only
the ghosts of old great buildings. What does this have to do with
DJ Greyboy? For the past two years, the Long Beach-based DJ and
producer has been restoring a house designed by noted American
architect Edward Killingsworth.

"I became really obsessed with architecture, furniture design
and art from the 1950s," says Greyboy, otherwise known as Andreas
Stevens. "Years later I ended up tracking down this house by
Killingsworth. It was falling down because of neglect. It would
have taken someone like me to buy it and restore it, otherwise it
definitely would have been demolished."

Stevens' attitude towards architecture is reflected somewhat in
his music. For the past decade, the 35-year-old has been piecing
together a textured musical collage. His influences run deep. From
the heady experimentation of jazz fusion to the robotic beats of
old-school hip-hop, he has a strong appreciation of musical history
and environments. Beginning his career as a hip-hop DJ, Stevens
took out the West Coast DMC title in 1987. In 1994 he released
Freestylin', a cult album that merged hip-hop with jazz, winning
fans and acclaim around the world. It was a surprise hit, the kind
of album that sneaks under the radar and continues to sell for
years. It's a quality Stevens appreciates as a producer and
listener.

"You just have to have consistency," he says. "That's my
favourite thing - when you can continually buy an artist's records,
when they first come out or 10 years down the line."

Yet Stevens and artists of his ilk are in an unusual boat. His
music - including his most recent album, Soul Mosaic - isn't played
on the radio, and it doesn't lend itself to music videos or singles
sales. To get his music out there, Stevens relies on the
public.

"You just become part of that group of people that music
listeners just look out for, by word of mouth or the internet. The
people that buy my records are people that go out of their way to
find new music on a regular basis."

Stevens knows, because he's one of those fans. He discovered
hip-hop in the early 1980s, a time when most of his friends were
listening to either disco or metal. It was also a time when hip-hop
on the West Coast of the US was ignored in favour of the growing
phenomenon taking place on the East Coast.

"I was too young to go to clubs at the time, but it was such a
black thing," he recalls. "The early LA hip-hop scene was cool - it
was all electro, 125 beats per minute, Kraftwerk-style with really
good drum programming."

But that's the difference between Stevens and most other DJs or
producers: he'll seek out the artistry in music most people
miss.

And the same goes for architecture.

"I look at houses like art, and this house was where I really
wanted to live."